Woman Reading a Letter
| Woman Reading a Letter | |
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| Artist | Gabriël Metsu |
| Year | mid-1660s |
| Catalogue | NGI.4537 |
| Type | Oil on wood panel |
| Dimensions | 52.5 cm × 40.2 cm (20.7 in × 15.8 in) |
| Location | National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin |
Woman Reading a Letter is an oil painting by Gabriël Metsu made in the mid-1660s, shortly before Metsu's death. During his lifetime, under the Golden Age of Dutch painting Metsu was a renowned painter, much better known than Vermeer. It is assumed to be a pair with Man Writing a Letter.
The pair of paintings are regarded as some of Metsu's best-known works; Metsu got the idea of a pair of themed paintings from Gerard ter Borch, who had painted a similar pair. It has been in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin since 1987.
A woman is reading a letter, seated by a window with a blue curtain. She is dressed elegantly in a yellow jacket with an expensive collar of ermine, and a skirt of peach-colored silk; there is gold trim on both the skirt and the elegant shoe she has kicked off. The red and blue embroidery pillow on her lap and the sewing basket next to her show that she put her needlework aside to read the letter. Beside her, a maid in dark clothing is drawing aside a curtain in front of a painting of a naval scene in an ebony frame. Visual clues would have made it immediately apparent to Metsu's contemporaries that the letter is a love letter. The little spaniel symbolizes fidelity and loyalty, the Cupid's arrows on the bucket and the maid's old shoes symbolize love and hope for a safe return.
The painting, showing a stormy sea, could refer to a tumultuous relationship or indicate that the loved one is on the sea. A final, striking detail is found in the letter the maid is holding: it is addressed to the painter.
Woman Reading a Letter is a companion piece to Man Writing a Letter, in which the young man is writing the letter. Records indicate the paintings have always been owned as a pair. Metsu likely got the idea for a pair of themed paintings from Gerard ter Borch, who had painted a similar pair, Man Writing a Letter and A Woman Sealing a Letter, but the influence of Johannes Vermeer is also unmistakable in the paintings themselves.
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